Who partnered with us while creating our approach to discipleship?

Who partnered with us while creating our approach to discipleship?

If there is one thing that we know at InFocus, it is that we are at our best when we collaborate with others to gain new insights. These last few months we have been hard at work as we launch our new disciple coach quiz and now that is finally available, we want to take this time to shine a light on our partners who helped us shape our approach to discipleship:  Our primary vision for the quiz was to introduce a coach-approach to disciple making:

A disciple coach helps their newest disciples by listening and asking questions to help them discern the voice of the Holy Spirit so that they can take the next step in their discipling making journey

Based on that vision, we asked the important question: What kind of support does a disciple need to make disciples using a coach approach?  Both Colin and Glenn bring a unique perspective to disciple making.

Colin Noyes is a trainer, coach and consultant in Brisbane, Australia. He coaches in secular environments, working with business managers and executives, but he is also very involved in denominations and local churches in the Christian world.  His focus is making more and better disciples, developing leaders and multiplying churches.  Personally, being married to an Aussie and having spent considerable time in Melbourne, Australia; I’ve experienced the radical (meaning “going back to the root understanding of Jesus’s way of making disciples”) approach to disciple making that is necessary in a secular environment.  

Colin and I have talked for years about the shifts in the culture and the implications on disciple making, and he truly was the foundation for our approach to discipleship; that discipleship starts in the harvest, not once you become a follower. He helped me to see this, reminding me that Jesus focused his time on engaging with those outside of the church. After hours of conversation, we tried to think of ways to shift the starting point when it comes to discipleship.

LEARN about the DISCIPLE COACH Quiz

Glenn Spyksma was the Operations Executive of the second largest wine distribution company in the world and has a background in engineering, working with many large brands. He has three decades in industry and now serves in a leadership role in the Central California region of the denomination of which his church is a member. Glenn strives to help individuals rise to their highest level, take educated risks, enjoy work and realize their self-worth.  After Glenn participated in a coach training workshop I led for pastors and leaders in his region, he commented during a de-brief of a triad exercise he did with two other leaders that asking questions and listening to others in this manner – “was the most profound experience he had ever encountered”.

Glenn has always had one foot in the church and one foot in the marketplace. He is an avid church-goer and involved in church leadership. Glenn and I have spent a lot of time discussing the struggle of living in both the secular world and the Christian world and asking the question; what support do I need as a person who is making disciples? Eventually he came up with the five habits of good disciple makers, which became the catalyst for our disciple coach guide, and the basis for our coaching quiz. 

Then there are the leaders who have been generous with their time to take the quiz and give us feedback.  This helped us refine the questions and the coaching guides.  Read  their endorsements of the quiz at the bottom of the page- CLICK HERE.

We are so grateful for these people, without whom, the Disciple Coach Quiz couldn’t have been made. Their particular ensigns in both the Secular and religious world shaped the way we think about discipleship. Together, we want to bridge the gap between the insulated Christian world, to the rest of the world past the doors of our church… where discipleship really begins.

TAKE the DISCIPLE COACH Quiz

Gary Reinecke and his team have developed a really useful questionnaire which gives you an overall Disciple Coach Score as well as some improvement keys to help you grow in your commitment to His Mission.

Colin Noyes – Author DisciplingAsYouGo BlogAs You Go, Makes DisciplesMaking Disciples in a Postmodern Era & Making Disciples Coaching Guide with Storyboard

Who is our Disciple Coach Quiz for? 

Who is our Disciple Coach Quiz for? 

Anyone who has been following us the last few months knows that we are in the final countdown to launch our free Disciple Coach Quiz! This is a quick quiz (takes less than five minutes) designed to show you your personal strengths and areas for growth when it comes to coaching and making disciples using a coach-approach. This is the unique contribution we are making in the disciple making conversation: listening and asking questions vs. telling.

We are so excited to be able to share this resource with you all!

So, who is this quiz for? We looked at the numbers of churches in the U.S. that were multiplying and realized that it was only two percent… This quiz is to aid the other ninety-eight. We seek to help coaches and disciples grow in five key habits of discipleship:

  • Missional values – knowing and understanding your personal values and living them out through consistent behavior 
  • Active prayer – utilizing prayer as a critically key element in the disciple making journey
  • Relational connections – building strong and authentic relationships with both Christians and non-Christians in your community
  • Disciple making cycle – creating intentional and enduring disciples who, in turn, create intentional and enduring disciples 
  • Strategic partnerships – forging strategic partnerships to keep you on mission in your disciple making journey

We think that church leaders, church planters and pastors can all benefit from taking and sharing this quiz with your disciples. Really, if you aspire to be a disciple maker, or actively are a disciple maker looking to grow, this quiz is for you.

This quiz isn’t a part of a curriculum or a step-by-step guide to be handed out in mass; we want this to serve as a helpful stop along the way in your unique discipleship journey. It is best shared with small groups that can process together; to help one another engage and grow in relationship with each other and with the Lord. We want to help discipleship coaches multiply and flourish. 

Stand by… the launch date for the quiz is July 5th!

Read what others are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…

Becoming a disciple coach is a journey that begins by knowing your starting point. The assessment gives you a clear picture of where you are and priority area(s) for growth. When a coach comes alongside in your journey, you can discern and take the next faithful steps toward reproducing disciple-makers. I strongly recommend that you engage in the journey!

Dr. Bob Logan – Author The Discipleship Difference and The Church Planting Journey

Why should you care about making disciples?

Why should you care about making disciples?

There are really only three behaviors when it comes to following the Lord that Jesus emphasized with his disciples; love God, love your neighbor and make disciples. Nothing else is as important as these three things and as long as you are striving to do these things; you’re probably doing all right. However, these are also things we can develop. We have found that the area that most modern Christians need the most help in, and the one that is most evident, is the third category – making disciples.  If the first wo are done well, making disciples will be an organic and integrated in our lives. 

Making disciples is both much simpler and much more difficult than most think it will be. Discipleship is, essentially, the art of apprenticeship or coaching. It is journeying alongside someone, listening and asking questions for their self-discovery.  Learning together as we go. And then it means, at some point, the disciples you make do the same thing for someone else. Meanwhile, you continue your disciple making journey and reproduce new disciples into the third and fourth generation.  There are so many reasons this is the preferred method of raising up new Christians. Here are just a few:

  • Individual coaching: Spiritual journeys will look vastly different for different people. Working intentionally with one individual or many allows the experience to cater to their needs and your abilities. 
  • We learn, grow and mature together: the process of discipling is intended to go both ways; while one person takes the role of the disciple maker, and the other of the disciple, both will learn and grow from the experience and from each other. 
  • Journeying with others: We have been created as communal beings. We were never meant to journey alone. We thrive on building strong relationships.
  • We are stronger, wiser together: Many heads are better than one. Many hands make light work. These idioms are true! Alone, we only have our own skills and experiences to rely on. Teaming with another broadens our knowledge and increases ability! 
  • We are raising up future leaders: Next time we need to fill a position within our team, we know to look towards our disciples. We disciple to build the next generation of our community. 
  • Relationship to God: In John 21, Jesus tells Peter that if he loves Him, Peter will feed his sheep. Essentially, discipleship is feeding sheep. Loving and teaching God’s children is an extension of loving God.

We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz.  As we continue beta-testing the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback.  Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz

“Gary Reinecke and the team from InFocus have created a crucial resource for leaders and churches who are serious about being with Jesus on His Mission. I highly recommend the Disciple Coach Quiz as a tool for shaping the future of your disciple making efforts. The five qualities it measures and the behavior it supports provide a solid foundation for helping people authentically follow Jesus.”

Steve Pike – President, Urban Islands Project

Disciple Coach Quiz

LAUNCH DATE

JULY 5, 2021

Did Jesus use a coach approach to make disciples?

Did Jesus use a coach approach to make disciples?

I’m reminded how dangerous or naive it is to make broad generalizations about the way Jesus made disciples.  How can we really know?

Early in my seminary education I had a professor who lived-out the values of a disciple maker.  He was an imposing figure (6’5″-ish) but Dr. William “Bill” Iverson (this is linked to my classmate’s blog – Dave Diaso) was a relational ninja who was always on the ready to engage students in the ministry of disciple making.  What he lacked in methodology he made up for relationally; that is, he did not work a linear process but started where people were on their journey to discover and follow Jesus.  During my first quarter in seminary “Bill” introduced me to Robert Coleman’s book, “The Master Plan of Evangelism”.  In this small but profound book Coleman articulated Jesus’s strategy for making disciples.  I saw the method to “Bill’s” madness from the pages of this book.  It was a framework for disciple making.  I remember taking all of the small group leader’s and apprentice leader in the church plant I was helping launch through this book together.  It embedded the DNA of make disciples into our small groups at New Song Church.

I’m using Coleman’s framework to “reverse engineer” (meaning to compare and contrast to find the correlation) the 5 habits of a Disciple Coach.  As you study the 5 habits see how they fit into the way Jesus made disciples according to Coleman.

Here are a underlying principles that consistently determined what Jesus’ action would be in any given situation as he made disciples:

  1. Selection – men were His method
  2. Association – He stayed with them
  3. Consecration – He required obedience
  4. Impartation – He gave Himself away
  5. Demonstration – He showed them how to live
  6. Delegation – He assigned them work
  7. Supervision – He kept check on them
  8. Reproduction – He expected them to reproduce

Robert Coleman’s – “The Master Plan of Evangelism”

Here are the 5 Disciple Coach Habits and how they correlate with Coleman’s 8 disciple making principles:

  1. Missional Values – CLICK HERE
    • Consecration – He required obedience
    • Delegation – He assigned them work
  2. Active Prayer – CLICK HERE
    • Selection – men were His method
  3. Relational Connection – CLICK HERE
    • Association – He stayed with them
    • Impartation – He gave Himself away
  4. Disciple making Cycle – CLICK HERE
    • Reproduction – He expected them to reproduce
  5. Strategic Partnerships – CLICK HERE
    • Demonstration – He showed them how to live
    • Supervision – He kept check on them

The Disciple Coach Quiz is designed to help you establish a baseline of where you are today.  Secondly, for those you are discipling.

Each Disciple Coach Habit has a corresponding Coaching Guide.  The guides are broken down into the following categories:

    • Key Outcomes – Best practices for you to identify with as a disciple coach.
    • Example – Read about ways to put the habit into practice.
    • Reflection Questions – Discover new insights.
    • Action Application – Apply the habit in your ministry as a disciple coach.
    • Resource – Dig deeper to understand the habit.
    • Challenge – Take the next step on your journey to reinforce the habit.

The Disciple Coach Quiz provides a baseline (strengths and weaknesses) and the coaching guide is designed for you to identify real actions you can take in the areas of desired growth.  It also serves as a tool for you to ask those your are discipling to assess themselves and for you to coach them in their development.

We are in the final stretch of beta-testing the Disciple Coach Quiz and it will be ready any day now.

Thank you to those who are providing feedback as we get ready to launch.

Recommended book on the principles of disciple making

Disciple Coach QUIZ – 3 Applications

Disciple Coach QUIZ – 3 Applications

As we approach the launch of of the Disciple Coach Quiz in a few weeks, we thought it might be helpful to explain the best ways to use the quiz to support your work as a Disciple Coach.

In his work as a regional leader supporting pastors and church planters to increase the health of their disciple making ministries, Glenn has invited leaders to take the quiz for their own awareness to accelerate their work as disciple makers.  That is a good first step. Here are the three applications to gain the most from the Disciple Coach Quiz

What are the best ways to use the Disciple Coach Quiz?

  • Good – take the quiz yourself!
    • Like we mentioned above; this is an excellent first step.  It will help you focus on the habit you need to develop to continue your journey.  Awareness is a powerful exercise.
  • Better – ask 1-3 of your most committed disciple makers to take the quiz!
    • This builds on the previous application but now you are expanding your circle of influence so that you can more strategically support the disciple coaches you are coaching.  You might want to function like a peer-to-peer learning community to share insights you are discovering along the way.  You might want to consider meeting periodically to reinforce the learnings along the way and facilitate those conversations using a coach approach.
  • Best – from the group above, ask the most engaged disciple makers to share the quiz with people in their network!
    • Invite them to do the same thing that you did with them.  For the Disciple Coach it is natural to coach (listen and ask questions) of people they are supporting on their discipleship journey.  The best kinds of people for this level of involvement are small group leaders, outward focused ministry teams and entrepreneurial types who are relationally connected to people far from God.

We are in the final stretch of beta-testing the Disciple Coach Quiz.  It will be ready any day now.  Would you consider taking it and giving us feedback on whether this is a helpful resource for you and those you are coaching on their discipleship journey?

Exciting News – Habits of a Disciple Coach

Exciting News – Habits of a Disciple Coach

One thing I’ve observed over the last three decades is that there are many resources available to make disciples.

I asked my friend Glenn (who serves in a regional role in a network of churches who are bent on making disciples, developing leaders and planting new churches) what church leaders need to move their disciplemaking efforts forward.  What I should tell you about Glenn is that he is not a pastor.  Glenn is a former businessman with a heart for helping churches become attractive communities where people, who are far from God, connect with Him.  This is important because when we discussed what the churches really need in his region, he was coming from the perspective of a highly engaged leader in his church, who is struggling through the challenge of making disciples in the Harvest and then resourcing pastors and church planters to empower their people.

Glenn and me discussed the question at length.  We agreed that the pastors did not need another book.  Just for fun I googled “disciple making books” and found 78,800,000 results.

Two observations we made:

  1. Focus on Implementation: we observed that the missing piece for leaders we are serving is taking action.
  2. Self-discovery is Critical: we also observed that most leaders in ministry are trained to speak and communicate knowledge.  Unique to this time is the need to listen – truly listen.  We believe there is a need to shift to an approach based on self-discovery (listening and asking questions).  This is why we have described the disciple maker as a Disciple Coach – a person that comes alongside people to help them discover the next step they sense God wants them to take on their discipleship journey.

This changed our focus from creating content to helping leaders identify areas disciple makers need support to accelerate their efforts into the second, third and fourth generation!  This is precisely why we have worked hard at understanding the habits of a Disciple Coach.  Jesus conveyed knowledge (in word and deed) in conjunction with authentic relationship – as he empowered His disciples!  We simply wanted to understand the nature of the support He provided.  That helped us refocus our energy from content to support.  I like the term “content agnostic” to describe the approach we used.  The way you make disciples needs to fit you and your ministry.  That is not what the habits are intended to accomplish.  We focused on the best ways to support the work a disciple needs to be fruitful.

See our previous blogs under each of the 5 Disciple Coach Habits:

  1. Missional ValuesCLICK HERE
  2. Active PrayerCLICK HERE
  3. Relational ConnectionCLICK HERE
  4. Disciple making CycleCLICK HERE
  5. Strategic PartnershipsCLICK HERE

Our journey to support the work of disciple makers, has led us to develop an online quiz.

We are committed to help pastors, church planters and missionaries (like Glenn) assess the kind of support they need.  Over the course of the next few blogs I will be sharing the various aspects of the quiz and the report you will receive explaining your quiz results:

  • Score Breakdown – graph of your current strengths and weaknesses as a Disciple Coach (see image above)
  • Key Areas – a brief explanation of the area you need to focus, linked to a coaching guide to help you develop this area
  • Book a free call – you will be invited to schedule a no-obligation, free 25-minute Zoom call with me.

Would you consider taking the quiz and providing feedback for us?  We are curious if what we have developed will be of help to you and those you are partnering with to make disciples.  I look forward to sharing the various applications of the quiz leading up to the launch later this month.